HOME Affairs is a new South African comic-drama about two men stuck in circumstances and a country undergoing a crisis of its own and will stage at this year’s Hilton Arts Festival.
The festival, considered a prime event in the arts in KZN, will take place at Hilton College just outside Pietermaritzburg from August 11 to 13.
The Home Affairs programme information reads: Two men. A government department. A crisis. Brought together by the great unifier, load shedding. Forced to talk about more than the weather and the state of power in the country, they find that they might have more in common than they initially imagined. Or maybe not. Either way, it all comes down to the light bulb. How many South African men will it take to fix it?
It stars Sello Ramolahloane (who appeard in The Wife, The Black Door and Legacy) and Lawrence Joffe (Blacksails, Outlander and Isidingo) and is written and directed by Michelle Douglas.
Douglas, who was born and raised in Johannesburg, lived in Rome, London, and Cape Town. He is now based in Melville.
She attended the Johannesburg Art, Ballet, Drama and Music School, where she majored in drama, and then went on to study drama at Wits University and Rhodes, graduating at Pretoria Technikon.
Douglas is a full-time theatre practitioner, and is involved with acting, writing and directing. She also teaches drama as a school subject, part-time, to Grade 8 and 9 pupils at an all-girls convent in Johannesburg.
Douglas said her love for theatre began at primary school.
“I played the Pied Piper in Standard 5 and I was hooked. I spent my high school years during the eighties at the Market Theatre and The Alhambra, where I enjoyed productions like Woza Albert, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (starring Grethe Fox), Blythe Spirit (starring Sandra Duncan) and Curl up and Dye by Sue Pam Grant. Theatre was a magical place, and I knew from an early age that it would be my home.”
Douglas said Home Affairs was a collaborative effort.
“We were working collaboratively with Neil Urmson, one of our producers. He was keen on addressing the subject of crisis in the average South African male, commonly known as mid-life crisis. On working around and through these issues, it became clear that the average male mid-life crisis in SA is often overshadowed by a country undergoing its own crisis. This creates it's own set of dynamics.
“The realisation came that any crisis involves a loss of hope and that, ultimately, we need to address the issue at its root: hopelessness. It seemed a poignant and timely play for our current situation in South Africa. The play evolved out of conversations around dinner tables.”
She said it was important that they found actors who were willing to 'go there'.
“In other words, actors who were not afraid to get real and to be willing to say things on stage which might be uncomfortable, to go to places on stage which might hurt a little. Actors who were prepared to be messy in order to be the mirror that theatre requires them to be.
“Both Sello and Lawrence delivered, and more. As we explored the text and the emotions of these two characters during rehearsals, both actors pushed the boundaries and went to some uncomfortable places, finally delivering real performances which moved audience members nightly and got people talking about their past and their future. We wiped audience's tears, and we received their hugs - thanks to these actors telling the stories truthfully.”
Douglas said she loved the fact that theatre/storytelling was originally a tool for healing.
“So we need to use it responsibly, not as a selfish platform for personal viewpoints but as an impersonal, sacred platform for healing. The powerful protest plays I saw during the years of apartheid still influence me today.
“There is an abundance of negative conversation in our daily lives as South Africans. There is so much fear. There is so much regret. Theatre moves past the surface issues and touches the heart, where we speak honestly and tell our stories, where we move past the problems which present themselves as discrimination, limitation, lack, polarisation, blame, corruption and emigration. And we face each other with authenticity, where heart meets heart.
“Theatre is where we take off our mental swaddling clothes which bind us, and we cry and laugh and release what is true - our deepest fears and our greatest longings. This is the power of storytelling. This is our hope in telling the story of Home Affairs. To renew an inkling of hope,” she said.
Home Affairs will stage at Memorial Hall from August 12 to 13. Tickets are R180.
Now in its 31st year, the annual Hilton Arts Festival takes place five weeks earlier than usual, which organisers hope will result in better weather.
Sue Clarence, the artistic director, said in a statement: “Our aim is to bring the pick of SA theatre to KZN over the weekend. It is not simply a drama festival. There are dollops of comedy, music of several different genres, an extensive fine art exhibition, exciting arts-related workshops, fun activities for kids, upmarket craft and a collection of classic cars - from a vintage Rolls Royce to modern Ferraris. There is live music, street theatre and a wide variety of food on sale. Naturally, there is a beer tent as well.”
Other highlights include Hansard, starring Fiona Ramsay and Graham Hopkins; Neil Coppen’s Isidlamlilo; and Marc Lottering’s So I Wrote This Musical.
Bookings via Webtickets. See the full programme on www.hiltonfestival.co.za